Honda Civic Noisy Interior

I'm so disappointed with one aspect of most Honda autos. How much road noise is introduced into the cabin. I just traded-in a 2008 VW GTI for a 2008 Honda Civic EX. Unfortunately VW has questionable reliability but that's a different discussion. One highly noticeable difference between my 2008 EX Civic and my old 2008 GTI is how quiet and solid the GTI felt. I also test drove a 2008 TSX, Accord and they were also noisy. Honda why can't you add 10-15 pounds of additional sound dampening to make the car quieter? Being connected to the road means steering wheel fell, handling and not road noise!

Comments

I could not agree with you more. Over the years I have experienced the cost costing ways of Honda. Sure their cars have the latest safety and technical advancements, but at what cost? In order to keep the prices of their cars in a reasonable zone they had to make cuts somewhere and I feel that you can see this reflected in the interior, which contributes to how noisy these cars are.. For example, look at the quality in plastics in a 2006-2009 Civic compared to one built in the early nineties. The current plastics look and feel cheap. Also, Honda use to have very high end carpeting. The carpet in my Civic looks like something out of late eighties GM product. Don't even get me started on the floor mats. I have seen better quality in something you can pick up at Walgreens.The doors are hard plastic with no cloth inserts. The carpeting does not even go up the door sills any more. Just more cheap plastic. And I am positive that they have cut back on the insulation that we can't see as well. Having said all of this, I must say that I love the looks of my 2006 Civic EX coupe. However, this will probably be my last Honda (I previously have owned 2 Preludes and 3 Accord coupes) due to the quality issues. It's sad to watch a company that was once celebrated for its quality vehicles to become so mediocre.

I fully agree that when driven on rough surfaces the 2008 Civic Sedan transmits way too much road noise into the interior. It's perfectly fine on smooth asphalt roads, but if you drive on any kind of a roughened concrete surface, look out! Other than that the car is great. I don't feel that the wind noise or the engine noise are problems, as both are at acceptable levels, even at high speed. That highly unpleasant low-frequency racket is all coming from the tires and it is being transmitted right up through the floorpan and adjacent areas. Here are a few things you can do:

1) Make sure your tires aren't overinflated, as this will transmit more road noise.

2) Buy quieter tires. The stock tires are quite noisy on rough surfaces. Both the Goodyear Assurance Tripletred and the Goodyear Assurance Comfortred are known to be much quieter tires, and I plan to try them on my 2008 Civic when I finally wear down the stock tires.

3) Install aftermarket sound-deadening materials. It's a tedious job, but from what I've heard it really works. I may try this myself some day.

I have owned two Accords (95 and 2001) and the road noise was high in those cars as well. Although I haven't driven the new Accords, from what I have read this is still an issue. However, I have driven a Solara and an Altima coupe and they felt like bank vaults compared to my Civic. Granted, there was a $10,000 price difference. However, I have been in later model Sonatas, G6, and even a Colbalt that were priced less than my Civic and were quieter and felt more solid. I guess time will see how they hold up. At least I know (pray) that resale will be better than those cars. CarMax offered me $15,000.00 (I decided not to sell). I only paid 17,900.00 three years ago so it is really holding its value.

I owned a 1998 Accord for three years. The interior was a little quieter than a Civic however it was not as quiet as other vehicles in its class. I also test drove a 2008/2009 TSX. It also was noisy. Whats amazing is my 2008 GTI was significantly quieter than the TSX, Accord and Civic and it felt very solid. Its a known fact that a 2008 Civci Si will keep up with a 2008 VW GTI. However if Honda sound dampened the Si to the levels found on the GTI I bet the Si would not keep up. At least not without changing the engine. VW should learn quality control from Honda and Honda should learn sound dampening and driving feel from VW.

Since I plan on keeping the Civic for the extreme long run I will be doing the after market sound dampening project. BTW, I highly recommend searching on the net for the best do-it-yourself suggests for quieting the Civic. I already did the rear trunk but I failed in some of the recommended methods. My lesson learned is sound dampening needs two materials. You should plan on using a Dynamat like product for the areas with thin/tight installation space. Use a good quality carpet padding material in say the trunk/flooring. I imagine the best solution would be to use the Dynamat all around however its expensive and heavy. Cover everything that is recommended or you might find your hard work was a waste. Oh and it will be tedious.

Several years ago, I had the Dynamat hood liner installed in my '05 EX sedan to quiet the engine noise. I also had Dynamat installed in all four doors when I upgraded the stereo. The hood liner made only a marginal improvement in engine noise, but the Dynamat in the doors made a BIG difference. If I had the time and money, I'd like to pull up the carpeting and install Dynamat on the entire floor and trunk area to complete the process. Has anyone done this? Is it worth it? :confuse:

I'm about to order a product similar to Dynamat except a different brand and lower cost http://www.b-quiet.com . I'll be doing the doors and rear side panels with it. Also I plan on adding some padding to the floor including the accessible part of the fire wall.

Yes please let us know how this turns out and how hard it was to do. I drive 20 miles to work everyday on a concrete highway and I would love some peace and quiet!! My 99 VW Golf was super quiet compared to this.

Well I have completed my planned noise reduction project. My goal was to make my Civic as quiet as the 2008 GTI. From the start I planned on taking a minimum approach to the project. The reason was weight. I previously mentioned using carpet padding. It instantly became apparent that carpet padding is a waste of money and time. I ended up using two different companies material. I initial bought from B-Quiet the B-Quiet Ultimate and B-Quiet VComp. As I was working on my trunk I realized I was going to be short. So I ordered from Second Skin similar products. I used the process as found in:

Like I said I took a minimum approach. I tapped on metal and if it had a dingy sound I applied B-Quiet Ultimate. I did my trunk and inside floor area with the B-Quiet VComp and Second Skin product. I did my doors with the Ultimate product only and followed the process as seen on the link. The hole thing took 5 days. However I did it over a period of one months time. So was it a success?

Yes and no. The car is definitely different and improved. I just didn't match the GTI. I now know that my goal was to high. Also my minimalist approach was wrong. I spent approximately $450.00 plus my time. The added weight is approximately 80 lbs. I believe the Second Skin product is better. If I were to do this again on a similar Civic I'd probably use another 25 pounds of material and cover as much as possible with a product like B-Quiet Ultimate. Then follow it with the VComp like product which is heavy. I don't know if placing it on vertical surfaces is a good idea unless you know how to glue heavy material on vertical metallic surfaces. On horizontal surfaces its the material that blocks out the sound coming from the road.

Unless a car is completely gutted and a full makeover is done it will only turn out as a partial solution. The best thing is to buy a auto with sound dampening as part of the design.

I just bought a 2009 Honda Civic LS-X 2 weeks ago. Every time I go over a road seam or a small bump I hear a buzzing sound vibrating in the dashboard or the windshield. My girlfriend has the same car, just in a different color and she has no problems even on the same roads. I drove her car to be sure!

I took the car back to the dealer and they said nothing is wrong, however, I hear it all the time and so does anyone sitting in my passenger seat.

My rear view mirror shakes (quietly) even if I am on smooth pavement or road. The dealer said they would replace it. But they claim there is nothing wrong with the car.

I really want to get rid of the car. I don't feel like this is acceptable. It has 250 miles on it and it has made this noise since the 2nd day.

Take it in again, and if that dealer refuses to fix it make sure Honda knows about it and go to a different dealer. My car has had the same type of annoying rattles since new, and it became especially noticeable when the weather got cold. I had it in 4 times and the dealer was great. They basically tore apart the entire passenger dash area and packed it with foam. I still notice a slight noise every so often in the glove box area and if it persists it will be headed back there once again. You have a new car and shouldn't have to put up with these little annoyances. My $.02.

The road noise in my 2008 4dr civic is still very bad even after I undercoated the underbody of the car. It helped alittle. Thinking of putting a dynamat type product in the doors.If I knew this car had such a problem with road noise I would not have spent the money to upgrade the stereo and put the SI swaybars in.My friend has a EX coupe and has no complaint with road noise...Go figure! :confuse:

Thank you for sharing your experiences. It looks like a fairly big project, especially if you did most of the things that were shown on that link you provided. I'm surprised that the 80 lbs of material you added cost that much, and I'm also a bit disappointed that the overall results weren't dramatically better. But if I ever decide to take on this project, I will definitely heed your advice and use more material.

I bought on a new civic honda sedan 6 months ago. I thought the noise would go away. I took it back to the dealer. I was told it was the tires, I should take the car to firestone and tell them to change the two back tires, the warrantly was still on the tires. Firestone would not honor the warranty eventhough the book said they would. We replace the tires with good year tires and the noise is gone.

I would like to add that the chances of breaking some minor piece of hardware is high. I broke some 5 things all of which are cosmetically hidden. The plastic screws/fasteners can break easily. I suppose you can buy some extra fasteners from a online Honda parts dealer in advance. Also when you're reinstalling the inside panels it's impossible to align the holes on the metal parts with the fasteners on the panels. So I damaged some parts for this issue. I just noticed my passenger side electric lock feature is not operating but it works manually. Did I cause that? Rats, oh well I have to remove that door panel again. I bought a little more material than was needed mostly due to minimum buy vs price. You can probably save $50.00 dollars by buying smaller quantities but then you're left with using the product sparingly. So again Honda makes reliable, fuel efficient, inexpensive cars that aren't luxury feeling like the German brands. Oh Acura is not a quiet car either so paying more doesn't equal quiet, at least not for Honda.

I just had a chance to drive a 2008 Subaru Legacy and I was absolutely shocked at how much quieter the Legacy was than my 2008 Honda Civic when driven on exactly the same roads. I realize that the Legacy is more of a luxury model and it can't really be compared directly to the Civic, but nonetheless there was a huge difference in road noise. Or, as you might say if you were driving in the Legacy, "What road noise?" On rough roads all I heard from the Subaru was a dull murmur, as compared to the all-enveloping roar of the Honda. And the heck of it is, they're having a big sale right now and I could actually purchase a leftover 2008 Legacy for the same price I paid for my Civic. Oh well, I've just gotta enjoy the Civic and move on. My only consolation is that at least I get better mileage, and I can always just put in my earplugs.

You're right about the Legacy. They are quieter and feel more luxuries than a Civic. However the Legacy also has the turbo which adds more to the feeling of luxury. My biggest issue with Subaru's is maintenance. In southern AZ there is only one dealer and they charge accordingly. I'm not comfortable with the complicated nature off AWD and local garages. On the other hand I know an engineer who thinks my local Subaru dealer prices are fine. He's coming from California so its all relative.

I had to replace my tires after 33.7K miles as determined by the penny check. I decided to buy tires which were advertised as quiet by the tire manufacture. Since I'm a Costco member only Michelin brand tires were on my list. I found the Michelin Primacy MXV4 which has a 60K mile rating plus labeled as "quiet, comfortable ride". Costco also uses nitrogen to inflate the tires and has road hazard warranty as part of the installation fee. Well after driving on numerous rough and bad surfaces I can say the tires are quieter. However the car is still not a quiet car but I'm glade the tires helped.

I have the same problem, first with a 2009 Civic Hybrid and and now with a 2012 HF. The first time they added foam and fixed it. But with the 2012 they said they couldn't hear anything. I sure can hear it and it is driving me crazy. I too want to get rid of my car. I have about 800 miles on my car. It started doing it at mile 200 or so. They have to pack your dashboard with insulation to get rid of it. I will not buy another honda.

Going from 16 to 17 inch will probably change to the negative (noisier). There is a change due to less rubber between the rim and road surface. You can try to mitigate the effect by selecting tires rated for comfort vs performance. Michelin tires are normally the quietest, consistently. Most tires will be quiet when brand new. Its after 10K miles that you have to worry about. Noise cancelling tech is not effective for most road associated noise. In order to properly cancel road noise it must silence the body and not just the audible sound. Noise transmitted through the auto body and into the cabin has lots of low frequencies that your typical sound system can't product. German cars and even Lexus autos are heavy due to noise reducing materials. Noise cancelling through speakers is a cheap solution and not very effective.

I have a 2012 Civic EX 4-door, which I'm sure some of you know has taken a lot of flack given its lackluster interior ushered in with the 9th gen. redesign. I agree to some extent that it looks cheap, but part of me appreciates the hard plastics and such as I feel it'll prove more durable given the life expectancy these cars tend to achieve.

I bought it new and it now has 15k miles on it after two years of ownership. Of course, when I first bought it the road noise was not an issue, but as the miles have passed, noise has become an all too familiar and tiresome companion. Where I live, we have particularly poor roads, and i swear my Civic sounds like it's falling apart. I agree with many of you that Honda needs to add more materials to isolate the cabin and suspension components (I haven't driven the 2013 model, which Honda claims has more sound isolation). What really disappoints me is that, at 10k, like many of you, rattles have started to crop up. At the moment it's the glove compartment and BOTH rear door panels. Just last week, my drivers door has started to rattle to any sort of bass coming from the speaker mounted in the door. I don't really mind as I'm grateful for having a car in the first place, but Honda products are not what they used to be.

I have to weigh in and also agree that my 2012 Civic Coupe is the nosiest car I have ever owned. My last Civic Coupe (a 2004) was a quiet and solid car. I've owned 3 Civics, but I'm afraid that my current Civic will be my last. Honda has compromised everything important to squeeze out a meager increase in gas mileage and make their profit. Sadly, this will be their downfall...